EU Clears Paramount-WBD $111 Billion Merger as Paramount Ends Universal Tie Within 13 Months
Updated
Updated · Variety · Jul 23
EU Clears Paramount-WBD $111 Billion Merger as Paramount Ends Universal Tie Within 13 Months
3 articles · Updated · Variety · Jul 23
Summary
$111 billion Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery merger won European Commission approval after Paramount agreed to unwind its European film-distribution venture with Universal within 13 months.
EU regulators said TV and film production would remain competitive, but the Universal partnership would overconcentrate film distribution; Paramount also pledged not to enter a similar arrangement for at least 10 years.
A federal judge in Oakland on Monday temporarily halted the merger pending a preliminary-injunction hearing sought by 12 states, which argue the deal would combine two of the top three U.S. basic-cable programmers and two major film distributors.
The UK is still weighing intervention, while Paramount says it has approvals from about 20 other countries and the U.S. Justice Department; the Writers Guild of America has separately sued to block the deal.